Death of the ad agency

The annual gathering of the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) provided the stage for Marc Pritchard – chief brand officer at Procter & Gamble (US: PG) – to send the global advertising industry into a spin. Mr Pritchard, who oversees marketing at one of the world’s biggest advertisers, has promised to “take back control” of P&G’s spending by bringing more of its marketing operations in house. Shares in ad agency WPP (WPP) plummeted 4 per cent in one day in response, while funds including Marshall Wace and Lone Pine have upped their short positions in the group’s global peers Publicis (EPA:PUB), Omnicom (US:OMC) and Interpublic (US:IPG).